


vindication

by prongs117



Category: The Way of All Flesh - Ambrose Parry
Genre: F/M, major spoilers for the art of dying, set approximately five years after the art of dying, speculation fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-02-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:08:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22653013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/prongs117/pseuds/prongs117
Summary: Sarah and Will and how much of life depends on lucky chances.Spoilers for The Art of Dying.
Relationships: Sarah Fisher/Wil Raven
Kudos: 1





	vindication

The clouds were low in the sky presaging a heavy downpour as Raven walked to Charlotte Square to meet Sarah at the Bromfield’s residence. Mrs. Bromfield was expecting a child and was understandably nervous after the delivery of her first a year ago that almost ended in disaster if not for Sarah’s quick thinking.

He had just rounded a corner when he saw Sarah leaving the elegant townhouse, looking so distressed that he thought something must have gone seriously wrong.

“What is it? Has something happened?”

Sarah looked puzzled at his alarmed questioning before she eventually realized he was taking his cue from her. “Oh no, no. Mrs. Bromfield is quite all right. It’s Milly I’m worried about.”

“Milly…who?”

“Milly Conville. She used to work for the Sheldrakes, remember?”

“Yes, I recall now. Is something wrong with her?”

“Well, she’s dying, Will. Tuberculosis. She must have had it for some time now but I didn’t even know until today. “

“I’m sorry, Sarah,” Raven replied knowing how weak his words sounded. Truth be told, he had quite forgotten Milly’s existence after they investigated the Sheldrakes years ago and it had never occurred to him to ask after her. He must have passed her on the street countless times but he never noticed, never looked at the faces of the housemaids going about their errands in the New Town when he of all people should know better than to dismiss them as insignificant.

“Is there anything I can do?”

“I’ve asked her to stay with me but she refused. She’ll be going to her sister in a few days instead. It might be better for her to be away from the dirt and noise of the city but I don’t think that was her primary consideration.”

Their walk to Warriston Cemetery was cheerless as Sarah kept silent while Raven thought about the people they were going to visit. He regularly visited Archie’s grave while Sarah had been away and after a letter from her requesting that he do so, Mrs. Glassford’s as well. He had not known them well in life but strangely enough seeing their headstones once a week made them feel like old friends. He missed Sarah terribly during those days and had no one to confide in but he knew these two would understand, they were after all the driving forces behind her extraordinary decision to pursue medical school.

This would be the first time though that he would be going there with Sarah; he did not want to intrude on her visits once she came back from America and so he came less often and only when he knew she wouldn’t be there. But today was Mrs. Glassford’s birthday and she asked him to join her.

“That could have been me, you know.” Though Sarah turned to him, her hat covered her face and he couldn’t see her expression clearly.

“Who?”

“Milly. That would have been my fate too if not for many lucky chances. A lifetime of drudgery in a stranger’s house; fetching, cooking, cleaning, laundering; then illness and death. I wouldn’t even have a sister to spend my last days with.”

“Sarah…” He wanted to tell her that wouldn’t have happened to her, he would have done everything in his power so that she would not be cold and lonely and forgotten. Except that would not have been true. As he had just demonstrated, he wouldn’t even have known she existed if she hadn’t been Dr. Simpson’s housemaid, or if she hadn’t helped with the patients when he was that venerable doctor’s assistant. 

Sarah meant the world to him but she just as easily would have meant nothing if not for a chain of events, both mundane and bizarre, that led them to the here and now, walking arm in arm to bring sunny daffodils to old friends. He often wondered how his life would have gone if he hadn’t met her or if they hadn’t developed the connection they did. Would he be married now to a respectable daughter from the city’s affluent families? Would he be happy with that staid and secure life, or would he still be the same restless man he had always been? Life with Sarah had certainly never been quiet and he couldn’t imagine it any other way.

She gave him a small smile as she realized she was infecting him with her mood. “Of course, I cannot be sorry that I escaped that life. I am only sorry that it doesn’t more often. I met many talented women during my studies—housemaids, factory workers, nurses, and they had as much ability and intelligence as the men who sat in the lecture theaters in medical school. But very few, if any, of them can hope to become doctors.”

“The world is changing, Sarah. You are proof of that. It is slow and frustrating and maybe it won’t happen in our lifetimes but someday women doctors and scientists won’t be such a novelty. We just need to leave the door open for the next Sarah Fishers to come in.”

“I’ll hold you that, Will Raven.”


End file.
